Publisher(s)

Published

1945-2011

The Railway Series is a series of story books about the railways on the fictional Island of Sodor. The books were created by the Rev. W. Awdry, who wrote the first stories back in 1943. He wrote twenty-six books from 1945 up until 1972. A further sixteen books were written by Christopher Awdry, his son. The final book was published in 2011.

The stories and characters would go on to form the basis for Thomas & Friends, with many of the books and stories being adapted into full episodes.

Companion Volumes

Pop-up Books

Bad Days for Thomas

Annuals

From 1979-1980, the annuals were written by the Rev. W. Awdry, and from 1985-1996 by Christopher Awdry. In some cases, these stories expanded upon earlier Railway Series books, in others they were entirely new, and some later rewritten and used as Railway Series stories.

Trivia

Nearly all of The Railway Series stories were based upon real-life events. As a life-long railway enthusiast, Wilbert Awdry was keen that his stories should be as realistic as possible. The engine characters were almost all based upon real classes of locomotives, and some of the railways themselves were directly based upon real lines in the British Isles.

During the 1970s, Andrew Lloyd Webber planned a musical adaptation of The Railway Series, but Awdry refused to give him the control he wanted. Lloyd Webber would later go on to compose Starlight Express and formed the "Really Useful Group", a name inspired by the phrase "Really Useful Engine".

In 1973, Kaye and Ward released the Japanese translation of Awdry's 26 books. The series was translated by Kuwabara Saburou and Shimizu Shuyu. Genyuu Kuroiwa supervised the technical terms of the railway. Christopher's books, however, have yet to be translated into Japanese.